


How to Be Unprepared for a Fire Alarm

by aurons_fan



Series: The Misadventures of Rooming with Friends [4]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Cold Weather, College AU, Fire Alarm AU, I guess we're slowly growing from pre-slash to slow build?, M/M, Pre-Slash, Slow Build, these boys move slower than molasses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-18
Updated: 2014-11-18
Packaged: 2018-02-25 19:01:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2632766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aurons_fan/pseuds/aurons_fan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Baby, it's cold outside.</p><p>or</p><p>“Why didn’t you shove me back into bed?” Sora hissed. His breath came out in icy puffs and his hands were shoved into his sweatshirt, shivering violently. "I trusted you and let you live in my room and breathe my air and this is how you betray me? Letting me freeze to death in the freezing cold at four am?!?!"</p><p>Normally, Riku would have raised his hands and conceded defeat, but he was too busy keeping his hands shoved in his pockets and his mouth hidden behind the scarf, in a futile attempt to stay warm.</p>
            </blockquote>





	How to Be Unprepared for a Fire Alarm

**Author's Note:**

> I was trying to be clever re: titles and summaries but clearly I gave up.

A week or so after Thanksgiving Break is always the worst time to be a college student. Especially a freshman, innocent to the hell you’re about to walk into. Just when you think that life can’t get any worse and you’ve had a minute to relax and enjoy yourself while at home, stuffing yourself with turkey, you suddenly have the terrible reminder that yes, life can be so much worst. Projects pile up like they’re going out of style, finals that had felt miles away suddenly feel like they’re tomorrow, and stress can go to an all time high.

There was also the sudden shock of, if one grew up in a warmer climate and goes to school in a slightly colder one, of snow.

But more importantly, studying.

Now that Riku was comfortably living in his new residence, he felt secure when he stayed up late to study. As the nights grew colder and reasons to leave the residence hall grew smaller, he wrapped himself tighter in his blankets and stared at the bright screen of his computer sitting on his desk.

With Sora fast asleep on the bed across from him, Riku was certain that he wouldn’t wake the boy. With his essay due in less than a week, he had to seriously get to work, and using all the hours of the day was a necessity. At four in the morning, the world was a quiet, comforting place, and he felt warm and safe as snow began to fall outside. All was peaceful.

So when the fire alarm started blaring, he continued staring blankly at his laptop. That wasn’t a fire alarm, he thought in an attempt to ignore out the outside noise. That was _obviously_ just a figment of his imagination, screeching at him, telling him to work hard so he could wake up for class in less than five hours.

When the alarm didn’t stop, he glanced over to Sora, who, from the look of him still burrowed into his blankets, didn’t even notice anything going amiss. Riku scowled, and nestled further into his own blanket.

Something pounded loudly on their door and Riku groaned even louder and sunk into his chair. “Fire alarm!”

Maybe, Riku reasoned, turning back to his computer, if no one responded, their RA would just think that they were still asleep. Riku tapped at his keyboard as quietly as he could.

The pounding grew louder, and Riku still didn’t respond, attempting to bore holes into his laptop with sheer force.

“Whatsat?”

Riku groaned again, slumping into his chair further. When Riku heard a rustling, he turned to see Sora sleepily walking towards the door. “Sora!” Riku hissed, as Sora began unlatching the door. “No!”

Sora opened the door to see Luxord staring at the two of them. He rubbed at his eyes and made to say hi and Luxord nodded over to Riku, who had dropped his head on his desk. “Fire alarm,” Luxord said, in what would be an interesting British accent anytime but four in the morning. “Everyone outside.”

Sora nodded, smiling ever so slightly and started to follow Luxord out the door. Riku refused to move his head from his desk, as Luxord raised an eyebrow and gently shoved Sora back into his room.

“Riku?” Luxord said. “Make sure you and Sora are outside as soon as possible… appropriately dress, I hope.”

Riku raised his head slightly to glance at Sora’s bare feet and groaned, dropping his head on the desk again.

\--

“Why didn’t you shove me back into bed?” Sora hissed. His breath came out in icy puffs and his hands were shoved into his sweatshirt, shivering violently. "I trusted you and let you live in _my room_ and breathe _my air_ and this is how you betray me? Letting me freeze to death in the freezing cold at four am?!?!"

Normally, Riku would have raised his hands and conceded defeat, but he was too busy keeping his hands shoved in his pockets and his mouth hidden behind the scarf, in a futile attempt to stay warm.

After Riku had managed to get a sleepy Sora into some boots and grab his id (a mistake he wasn’t going to make... again), he had rummaged through Sora’s closet to find something even in the same vicinity as a winter coat. Considering how warm Sora’s place had been, he didn’t really think the boy would be used to such weather, and from how much Sora shiving beside him, Riku was right. But all he’d been able to find was a sweatshirt that had been laying across Sora’s bed, and when Luxord had pounded on their door again, ordering them to leave, Riku didn’t have much choice.

They had run into Kairi as they raced outside, who was moving as if the building was _actually_ on fire, but even she had managed to bundle herself up with a scarf and some gloves. Others, like Sora, weren’t so lucky.

“F-f-f-fuck th-th-this,” Tidus chattered, rubbing his arms against his bare skin. Considering Tidus was wearing what he’d gone to bed with, and by the looks of it, it wasn’t much, he was even less prepared than Sora. “I th-thought the b-building w-w-was on f-f-f-fire.”

Kairi cooed slightly, yawning and rubbing her hands up and down his arms in an attempt to keep him warm. “You’ll survive.”

“Anyone see Roxas or Axel?” Hayner asked, glancing around. “Roxas slept over Axel’s place again and…”

They all (or those who could move comfortable without fear of breaking off a limb from shivering so much) glanced up towards the building. Apparently, some idiot had decided to make some popcorn at _four in the fucking morning_ and had set off the fire alarm. And since none of the windows in the dorms actually opened more than an inch, all of the building’s alarms had gone off.

“They’ll live,” Sora muttered under his breath, cupping his hands together and blowing into them. “And even if they die in a fiery death, at least they’ll be _warm_.”

Sora continued shivering, throwing a hate-filled look over to Riku. Riku rolled his eyes, unwrapped the scarf that was around his neck, and wrapped it around Sora’s.

“Thanks,” Sora said, burrowing into the scarf.

“Oh come on guys,” Kairi said, grinning to the lot of them. “This will be just another funny freshman story we can tell when we’re old and wise upperclassmen.”

Hayner’s left eye twitched. “It’s a lot less funny when it’s four in the morning and we all have class at in five hours.”

Sora glared at her (or more accurately, at her coat), Riku yawned loudly and Tidus shivered more.

Kairi groaned and threw her gloved hands in the air. “You know what, I don’t need this.” She turned and walked over to Olette and some more girls, who were all comfortably dressed for the weather.

Tidus flailed. “W-w-wait!” He shouted, sprinting after her as fast as he could for a boy in boxers, t-shirt, and bare feet.

Hayner grumbled under his breath and Sora moved closer to Riku. “This fucking sucks,” Hayner said, rubbing his ungloved hands together. “First snow of the year and we get to experience it first hand.”

“Yeah, and the convenience store closed an hour ago…” Riku mumbled, drawing Sora into a hug, attempting to wrap his coat around him. Sora was still shivering in his sweatshirt, and while Riku felt bad that he hadn’t been able to find a heavier coat, he also wasn’t really up for explaining why he had gone through two roommates in less than a semester. Especially if one of them mysteriously froze to death while he was around.

They all sighed, their breath forming air crystals around them, when Hayner suddenly let out a shrill, “ _HEY_!” and sprinting in the direction to where Kairi and Tidus had disappeared. When Riku glanced over, he saw Kairi, Olette and the group of girls had all managed to use their jackets as a form of cover to protect Tidus from the elements.

Sora rolled his eyes, keeping his chin buried on Riku’s shoulder. “S-seriously? Wimp,” he said with a shake.

Riku glanced across the street from their dorm to the college of arts and sciences and grinned slightly. “Sora?” The brunet glanced upwards and Riku nodded towards the building. “I have a stupid idea that may not work. Wanna test it out?”

“Will I be warm?” Sora said, and Riku nodded. “Well then, let’s go.”

“Well…” Riku said, and grabbed Sora’s hands. Neither of them had managed to grab clothes before they raced out of the dorm, and Sora’s hands were freezing.

After glancing around and making sure they were out of the sight of any RAs, Riku pulled Sora behind him and they rushed across the street. When they approached one of the college doors, Sora glanced up to Riku, a confused look flittering across his face. “You know they lock the doors right?” Sora said, letting disappointment creep into his voice.

Riku grinned and let go of Sora to grab the door handle with both hands. “Someone told me that if you tug on one of these doors _juuuust_ right,” he said, yanking hard at the door. When it didn’t open, he frowned, and tried tugging at it again.

Rolling his eyes, Sora grabbed the door handle as well, and the two of them gave one final tug and the door flung open, almost knocking them both over.

“Well,” Riku said, waving into the entrance with his hand. “After you.”

Sora entered the building, still shivering despite being inside. Riku slammed the door shut behind them, before tentatively checking that it would still open if they needed to get out.

“It’s freezing,” Sora said, and Riku’s expression fell. Sora waved a hand and smiled slightly. “I mean, it’s a lot better than being outside but if only they had accidentally kept the heat on.”

Riku plopped onto a bench tucked away just off the entrance and patted the seat next to him. “It’s better than standing in the snow for…” He pulled out his phone and grimaced. “Almost forty-five minutes.”

Sora sat next to him, tucking his arms into his sweatshirt and shivering a little more. Without a word, Riku tugged off his coat and draped it over Sora. Sora snuggled into it, before frowning. “But then you’ll freeze.”

Now that Riku was sitting in just a short-sleeved t-shirt and jeans, he regretted the gesture, but at least Sora wasn’t shivering anymore. “I’ll be fine,” he said, hugging his arms to his chest and attempting to rub life back into them.

Sora sighed, reaching over and snuggling against Riku, causing him to half topple over on the bench. Once down there, Riku froze, his limbs not really as much of a concern.

“Don’t you even say a word,” Sora muttered, wrapping his arms around Riku. “It’s cold as fuck outside, and there’s only one jacket. Besides,” he said, his voice slowly sounding like it was drifting off. “You woke me up.”

“The alarm woke you up,” Riku said, letting out a soft sigh when Sora’s breaths went even.

He slowly lowered his head against the bench, staring up at the ceiling. If he just kept an eye on the door, he would be able to see when everyone else went back inside.

Sora made a noise and Riku glanced down, smiling slightly. This wasn’t so bad. It was warm and comfortable, and if Riku put his mind to it, he could probably fall asleep like this.

A few minutes later, the stress of the fire alarm and the late hour dragged Riku off to sleep.

\--

When a loud sound went off, Riku instinctively reached next to him to turn off his phone but only felt air. His eyes snapped open, and almost shot up, only for Sora to groan.

“Noo,” Sora mumbled, snuggling closer to Riku.

Riku turned to glance out the window and not only was he half blinded by the sun shining down at him, but the crowds were long gone. He stealthily maneuvered his phone out of his jeans to see that is was practically 8am, and it wasn’t his phone alarm going off. Just Kairi calling.

“Hello?” he said softly, trying not to jostle Sora more than possible.

“Where _are_ you!?” she exclaimed, and he jerked, moving the phone from his ear. “We were all let inside _hours_ ago and everyone I talked to said you and Sora disappeared!”

Riku glanced down to Sora, wrapped in his coat and, uagh, was he drooling on Riku’s chest? He grimaced, and tried to gently shove Sora off. Sora seemed to have tightened his grip and Riku gave up with a sigh. “We found somewhere to crash and pass out,” he said. Sora groaned and blinked his eyes at Riku in confusion. “We’re not in trouble are we?”

Kairi laughed, and in the background Rku vaguely heard Tidus and Hayner. “No, but we were worried,” she said. “Come to breakfast. Unless you two are still—“

“If Roxas and Axel can drag themselves out of bed,” Hayner shouted in the background. “Then so can you two!”

The phone cut off before Riku could correct them and he sighed, dropping his head against the chair of the bench again.

Sora stared up at him from Riku’s chest. “Breakfast?” he asked, sounding ten times more awake than before.

Riku actually shoved Sora off him and attempted to stand, before all but collapsing in the floor in pain. “My back,” he groaned. “My legs, my arms, my _everything_.”

Sora laughed and helped Riku stand up. His coat, Riku noticed, was way too big on Sora and almost dragged to the ground. “Maybe,” Sora said, brushing invisible dust off Riku’s shoulders. “Professor Ansem won’t mind when we all sleep through class?”

“He better not,” Riku said.

Sora shrugged out of Riku’s coat and helped Riku into it, before wrapping an arm around Riku’s waist and heading out the building.

\--

As Riku and Sora finally approached the table with their friends at it, with Sora’s arm still firmly wrapped around Riku’s waist, Axel started clapping. “I was wondering how long it would take you two.”

Sora helped Riku all but collapse into a seat before walking back to the food portion of the dining hall. “Long it would take us what?” Riku asked, shrugging out of his coat.

Axel grinned, tilting his head slightly. “You know.”

Riku blinked and looked at the rest of the people at his table. Kairi had a grin that could match Axel’s, Tidus and Hayner were awkwardly looking away from him, and Roxas had a look that could melt steal. “I… don’t?” Riku admitted, scooting over as Sora approached the table again.

“Riku,” Sora said, using his butt to shove Riku over more and handed him a plate. “Had the bright idea to break into the college across the street and use it as hiding place from the storm. Buuuut then we fell asleep.” Sora grinned, grabbing his drink. “He thought we could sleep on a bench and he wouldn't be in pain but I suppose that he has been proven wrong.”

“Ooh,” Kairi said, nodding and picking at her pancakes with a fork. “I did wonder where you two disappeared to. We thought you might have…” she attempted to wiggle her eyebrows but that attempt was not a success.

“Wait a minute,” Roxas said. “What the hell were you doing outside?”

Everyone at the table, sans Axel, glanced over him in shock. “Wait, you mean you didn’t hear the fire alarm?” Hayner said, eyes wide.

“Fire alarm?” Axel echoed, shaking his head. “Unless you were talking about how hot things were between us.”

He winked at Roxas. Kairi pushed her food away from her, and Riku almost spat up his drink.

Roxas rolled his eyes in disgust. “I think we went to bed around 3 or so? But we didn’t hear anything.”

Tidus’s eyes twitched. “You mean if I had just stayed hidden in my bedroom, I wouldn’t have been forced to stand outside for an _hour_ in practically nothing?!” he exclaimed, eyes wide. “I am traumatized by this experience. I … I…” he slumped against the table and Kairi reached over to pat his arm.

“You’ll survive,” she said with a smile, and he groaned.

Sora leaned back slightly, glancing over to Riku as he was grabbing his cup. “Thanks,” Sora said, with a grin, before turning back to his food.

Riku nodded, turning back to pick at his food when he felt Sora’s hand reach for his and entwine their fingers together. Riku glanced over to Sora, who just gave a small smirk.

Riku just smiled and kept eating.


End file.
